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Aunt Dora Baggins
Immortal
Dec 7 2011, 3:08pm
Post #1 of 134
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What's the first big news story you remember?
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On this anniversary of Pearl Harbor (my great-uncle Eddie Fiddock was there), I got to thinking about this topic of conversation that came up at a family gathering one year. My parents said Pearl Harbor. For me it was the Kennedy assassination (more RFK than JFK, though I barely remember the JFK assassination when I was seven.) For my son it was the fall of the Berlin Wall, and for my daughter the Oklahoma City bombing. These things really mark the generations, and I got curious. I'm sure I've forgotten some in my list, so feel free to add others. I realize that my list is pretty USA-centric, since it's based on my own experience. I can't remember if I've done this poll before, but if so, I'm sure there are more people here now. Also, how old were you at the time? In my family, the age seems to be about 6-11.
(This post was edited by Ataahua on Dec 7 2011, 10:35pm)
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Annael
Immortal
Dec 7 2011, 3:35pm
Post #2 of 134
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I was almost 6. My parents were really happy - they were Republicans until the party took a giant step to the right in the 70s and left them stranded. Soon after, I remember going outside one night to look up and see Sputnik pass by overhead, the first satellite ever. When I was 10, the Beatles hit big in the US with "I Want to Hold Your Hand." I was 11 when JFK was assassinated and I remember every detail of where I was and what was going on when we heard. That was the defining moment of our generation for sure - the assassinations 5 years later of Martin Luther King Jr. and RFK, along with the escalating Vietnam War, made me feel pretty hopeless for a long time about our country, although the first walk on the moon in 1969 was a bright spot.
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Aunt Dora Baggins
Immortal
Dec 7 2011, 3:54pm
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The first election I remember was LBJ
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My dad went to the county convention and came home with a can filled, supposedly, with gold water. But he was a liberal Republican and not too happy with Goldwater. My grandmother idolized Ike. She had one of the Eisenhower dollars made into a necklace and wore it for years, setting off the alarms at airports wherever she went. I think growing up with the Vietnam War on the evening news every night really shaped my generation.
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Arwen's daughter
Half-elven
Dec 7 2011, 4:33pm
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I would have been about 8, but I remember watching some of the footage on the news.
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Ethel Duath
Half-elven
Dec 7 2011, 4:50pm
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Kennedy--and not just from the news--
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I was 6 years old in first grade and sometime in the early afternoon the principle came in with a very grim look on her face and spoke to our teacher. At some point after that we were all herded into a larger classroom where they had us all sing America the Beautiful or the Star Spangled Banner (can't remember which) and then they told us Kennedy had been shot--possibly that he had died (this was in eastern Nebraska, so I suppose we'd have been an hour later time-wise). About an hour later when school was out at 3:15 I walked the mile back to my house and found my mom sitting on the edge of my bed with the strangest sad look on her face as she tried to smile at me and soften it a bit while she tried to explain it to me. Nobody really knew what to do--certainly not at my school, although it was obvious they were trying to give it some thought. The worst was the next day on the playground where some second grade boy was telling everyone rather belligerently how his dad said he was glad Kennedy was shot because Kennedy was a Democrat, or something to that. effect Very odd week, that was. I even remember it was sunny on the day it happened, and cloudy the next on that playground.
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Ethel Duath
Half-elven
Dec 7 2011, 4:53pm
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And what does it say about our Demographic here (or our interest
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in the question?) that almost everyone is saying Kennedy? Hmmm, very interesting . . . Thank you Aunt Dora, for a chance to remember that day with all of you here. I certainly have never gotten over it completely.
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dernwyn
Forum Admin
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Dec 7 2011, 5:44pm
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I don't know if it was the first Sputnik, which was launched in 1957 - I would have been only 3 at that time - but I remember my Dad taking my brothers and me outside late at night, to watch as it passed overhead, like a tiny star. The Kenneday assassination: they let us out of school early, and as we walked home some kid kept saying that Kruschev was going to come and take over...
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Ataahua
Forum Admin
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Dec 7 2011, 6:36pm
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I was nine, and remember the TV news stories that a plane with 257 people on board had disappeared on its way back from Antarctica and had so many hours of fuel left. The hours counted down, then the deadline passed as there was still no word about the plane. The wreckage was found on Mt Erebus a few hours later.
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Nightingale
Rohan
Dec 7 2011, 6:43pm
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I was about 8, and I remember everyone being really upset but I didn't really understand why she was so popular (I also remember disliking 'Candle in the Wind' intensely for some reason. Odd). Then the internet began to really take off for the 'ordinary man on the street', and presenters began to start giving email addresses and websites for the audience to contact programmes with, complete with the ninja like 'forward slash' hand gesture. So 90s! My first 'big' news story would have been the war in Afghanistan (I think - it was definitely a military invasion, and I was about 10). I remember seeing it on 'Newsround' (a children's magazine news programme) and seeing all of the footage of tanks - quite scary. I went on the BBC news site afterwards to try and understand it more - I am ashamed to say that I still don't fully understand all of the motives/consequences.
(This post was edited by Nightingale on Dec 7 2011, 6:50pm)
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Alassėa Eruvande
Valinor
Dec 7 2011, 6:45pm
Post #10 of 134
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Well, if some nice admin would change my accidental "Other" vote to "Watergate", I'll be all set.
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I accidentally hit "other" before I saw "Watergate". Anyway, I was age 5 when it started, and age 7 when Nixon resigned. Mostly, I just remember a lot of hullabaloo on tv that I didn't understand, and lots of Nixon. The thing that cemented this memory, though, has more to do with some little things my grandma made. She made "Watergate Bugs" out of polished rocks and jewelry findings and sold them at local craft fairs. My brothers and I even played with some she gave us. The next big memory is Jimmy Carter's inauguration. I mostly remember how he and Mrs. Carter walked up Pennsylvania Avenue during the parade, and sometimes their daughter, Amy, walked with them. I think I was more impressed by the fact that Amy was only a year younger than I and was going to get to live in the White House.
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Gimli'sBox
Gondor
Dec 7 2011, 6:53pm
Post #11 of 134
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9-11. I was pretty young, around 6-7 and I just remember
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my mom and dad watching tv at my grandparent's house talking about a plane that hit a big building. Also, how old were you at the time? In my family, the age seems to be about 6-11.
Seems like that's when most people have their first big news story. I wonder if that's when you really start listening to the bigger things going on around your little world of play and fun.
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RosieLass
Valinor
Dec 7 2011, 7:09pm
Post #12 of 134
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Which would have been when I was 7-8.
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RosieLass
Valinor
Dec 7 2011, 7:11pm
Post #13 of 134
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I remember when they announced in our class...
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...that Reagan had been shot, and one jerk in the class laughed, and I thought that was pretty abominable.
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taekotemple
Grey Havens
Dec 7 2011, 7:32pm
Post #14 of 134
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Definitely the Challenger explosion
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I was home sick from school, watching the news footage. It was such a shock to me, and I'm sure to many others as well, especially because of the teacher on board. What a tragic, tragic event. I can't remember how old I was, I could probably calculate the year if I look it up, but I think I was in 4th or 5th grade.
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Darkstone
Immortal
Dec 7 2011, 8:10pm
Post #16 of 134
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I was seven years old. I remember the newspaper being full of stories and pictures about it.
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Faenoriel
Tol Eressea
Dec 7 2011, 8:38pm
Post #17 of 134
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Yeah, probably not big in the States or even elsewhere in the west, but huge here in Northern Europe. The ferry cruiser MS Estonia sank in September 1994 in Finnish waters in the Baltic Sea when sailing from Estonia to Sweden. 852 people died, 137 survived. I was 7 years old when it happened. I still remember the news images of the storming cold, grey water and the orange lifeboats, the hypothermiatic survivors and the stories I heard of what happened on the ship. I might have only imagined the dead bodies based on the news and the stories, or maybe they were seen too on the news. Anyway. The ship sank in the waters off the coast of my home city. Ferries and ships are a huge industry here and part of the continuing heartbeat of the city. Sea is just out there, with its gentle waves and the innumerable islands of the Turku archipelago. I love it. The sea. Now when I think about it, that incident might have been part of me growing to have such respect for nature - Not the approving respect of the superior who allows his inferiors to live because it happens to please her, but the fearful and loving respect of someone oh so very little who understands how dependant she is of the mighty universe around her. Oh, and I fear sailing. Even though I've traveled by the ferries to Sweden and Estonia many times. I wonder why...
(This post was edited by Faenoriel on Dec 7 2011, 8:42pm)
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Faenoriel
Tol Eressea
Dec 7 2011, 8:41pm
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Pretty sure now the bodies were seen on the news.
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I have utmost respect for death too. Taking death slightly, no matter who's death, is my Berserker Button.
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Aunt Dora Baggins
Immortal
Dec 7 2011, 10:01pm
Post #19 of 134
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The murder of the athletes in the '72 Olympics made a big impression on me too.
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I didn't list it, because it was around the time of Watergate, but I remember being grief-stricken.
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Aunt Dora Baggins
Immortal
Dec 7 2011, 10:02pm
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going out in the yard to watch a satellite go over. And that reminds me that I forgot to list the 1969 moon landing!
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Aunt Dora Baggins
Immortal
Dec 7 2011, 10:07pm
Post #21 of 134
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I had a Jackie and Caroline paper doll set
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and I had the same reaction to Caroline, being my age and being so famous :-) "Watergate Bugs!" That's hilarious. I remember our minister reading from Nehimiah 8, "And all the people gathered themselves together as one man into the street that was before the water gate." :-D
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Ataahua
Forum Admin
/ Moderator
Dec 7 2011, 10:35pm
Post #22 of 134
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so I did it.
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Elizabeth
Half-elven
Dec 7 2011, 10:43pm
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Only a year old when Pearl Harbor was bombed, but I have a lot of memories of wartime, and fairly clear memory of VE-Day (when Germany surrendered). Subsequently, when Japan surrendered I was very confused, because I thought the war was already over and didn't understand why everyone was celebrating again.
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Magpie
Immortal
Dec 7 2011, 11:57pm
Post #24 of 134
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I can remember quite a lot about JFK's assassination (I was 11). The event, the lying in state, and the funeral procession. And my dad bought the Time Life book about the event so I grew up reading it and looking at the pictures over and over again. Those images are burned in my memory.
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Alassėa Eruvande
Valinor
Dec 8 2011, 12:09am
Post #25 of 134
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(Thanks!)
(This post was edited by Alassėa Eruvande on Dec 8 2011, 12:10am)
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Magpie
Immortal
Dec 8 2011, 12:17am
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was one event I can't remember at all. I mean... when it happened, I not only was not watching, I'm not sure I even knew it was going to happen. It was the summer before senior year for me. Perhaps I was out cruisin the gut... as we used to call it. Or eating with my friends at Pizza Hut with its groovy black lights.
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Alassėa Eruvande
Valinor
Dec 8 2011, 12:23am
Post #27 of 134
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It was early in 1986. I was taking a college freshman chemistry test.
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When I finished the test, I walked over to the student lounge and everyone was glued to the tv. I just remember the newscast showing the cloud over and over, and it reminding me of a caterpillar with two antennae. Weird what sticks in your head. During the weeks after, I was regularly appalled by my fellow students' attitudes that NASA somehow "deserved" the disaster, since they hadn't had one since the Apollo incident. I remember some chick saying how NASA had gotten too "cocky" and this tragedy should bring them back to reality. Jerks. I guess they forgot that people died that day.
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Magpie
Immortal
Dec 8 2011, 12:24am
Post #28 of 134
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The sinking I remember is the Edmund Fitzgerald
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certainly not as many people on board since it was an ore boat carrying a crew of 29 (and no passengers). The night before, I'd been at the mall (in Michigan) for some reason and when I went to leave, the wind was blowing so fiercely, the stray carts were just flying across the parking lot. The next morning, I talked with my mom and she said a ship went down in Lake Superior. It was odd knowing the cause was the same wind I'd experienced.
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Spencissimus
Lorien
Dec 8 2011, 12:31am
Post #29 of 134
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Probably the Thredbo Landslide and the rescue of Stuart Diver
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This is an even that probably only Australians and New Zealanders are aware of...It happened in July 1997, when I was 7 (and only half a month before Princess Diana died, which would have doubtless been the biggest news story had Thredbo not happened first). I don't remember it 100% clearly, but I do remember hearing tidbits on the news every night for the 3 or so days that the rescue teams searched for survivors, and eventually found Diver.
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acheron
Gondor
Dec 8 2011, 1:22am
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Well, I was vaguely aware there was an election in 1988. I am always disappointed in myself that I don't remember the Berlin Wall. Definitely remember the Gulf War though -- I would have been 8 too. (You a 1982 baby too? )
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silneldor
Half-elven
Dec 8 2011, 1:59am
Post #31 of 134
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I was seven. But with Kennedy's Death i remember where i was. I was a freshman in HS studying in study hall in the auditorium and it came over the speaker system
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Alcarcalime
Tol Eressea
Dec 8 2011, 2:04am
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Well, someone may guess I am old!
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My oldest memory of a world event was when Truman fired Douglas MacArthur. I would have been no more than 5. I don't remember exactly when that was. I remember thinking how could anyone fire a general, they were next in line after God. Having been born at the end of WWII, I grew up with news about generals, and watching news reels and war movies, I seem to have had a rather inflated idea of generals!
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Alcarcalime
Tol Eressea
Dec 8 2011, 2:07am
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I remember listening to his nomination at the Republican convention in 1952. I was 6, not quite 7 at the time.
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silneldor
Half-elven
Dec 8 2011, 2:36am
Post #34 of 134
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I remember watching Eisenhauser on the tv
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but i do not remember anything specific.
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dernwyn
Forum Admin
/ Moderator
Dec 8 2011, 3:21am
Post #35 of 134
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Do you remember the paper doll
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of him that was in MAD Magazine? This is Gary Powers. Cut him out and trade him for other spy paper dolls. Or something like that...
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dernwyn
Forum Admin
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Dec 8 2011, 3:31am
Post #36 of 134
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I was in a motel outside of Denver.
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With my mom and dad. We had flown from Massachusetts out to Colorado to visit my brother, who was spending the summer as a camp counsellor in the Rockies. We'd taken him to the rodeo in Cheyenne (Wyoming) (where I bought a "Frodo Lives" button), and when we took him back to the camp they had a TV on for the campers, as the lunar module had just landed. We hung around for a while waiting for the crew to step onto the Moon, but it got late and we had to leave. We got back to the motel room in time for the "small step/giant leap".
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Ataahua
Forum Admin
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Dec 8 2011, 3:36am
Post #37 of 134
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I had forgotten about Stuart Diver though. Thanks for the reminder Spencissimus.
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Aunt Dora Baggins
Immortal
Dec 8 2011, 3:43am
Post #38 of 134
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I was in my office and the physics lab across the hall had TV, and I heard people gasp, and went in to see what was going on. I still remember the looks on people's faces as I walked into the room. I heard so many awful news stories when I was in that building. I remember hearing about the Columbine massacre there, as I listened to the radio in my office. I never saw more shell-shocked students than the ones in my classes that day. And there was the Oklahoma City bomb. And I remember hearing about 9/11 as I was driving to work, and coming to the door of that building and being met by a wide-eyed coworker who said "Have you been listening to the radio?" We went over to the student center and watched it all on a huge TV there; the students weren't on campus yet, and the faculty and staff were supposed to be in meetings, but we huddled in front of the TV instead.
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Aunt Dora Baggins
Immortal
Dec 8 2011, 3:45am
Post #39 of 134
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Wow, I was just an hour north of you, in our basement watching on the TV. We went outside afterwards and looked up at the moon and tried to imagine the people walking on it. My husband says he did the same thing.
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Silverlode
Forum Admin
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Dec 8 2011, 3:45am
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I remember sitting in class and watching Challenger explode.
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I remember the shock and confusion, and thinking "Wait....that did not just happen!" and the teachers being just as shocked and horrified as we were but trying valiantly to pull themselves together and continue on with the school day with a bunch of stunned or crying children. To make it even worse, our class had a field trip scheduled to the NASA/Ames research center a week later. It was the most depressing school field trip ever. I look back and feel sorry for our NASA docent, trying to answer questions about the disaster from a bunch of elementary school kids.
(This post was edited by Silverlode on Dec 8 2011, 3:46am)
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Annael
Immortal
Dec 8 2011, 3:48am
Post #41 of 134
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Went outside, looked up at the moon - as I recall it was full - and said "there are people up there." Amazing to think. And then we had a toast. My aunt gave me a tiny glass of creme de menthe. First and last time I ever drank that. Bleagh. Tasted like alcoholic toothpaste.
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Aunt Dora Baggins
Immortal
Dec 8 2011, 3:48am
Post #42 of 134
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This exercise does separate people by age, doesn't it?
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So often on TORn and the Internet in general, age isn't at all apparent. So it's kind of startling to do this once in a while.
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Elizabeth
Half-elven
Dec 8 2011, 6:54am
Post #43 of 134
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I was 11, and remember it well. My parents were appalled. They certainly shared the notion that firing a General was like firing God. They were among those crying, "Unleash Chiang Kai-shek," although it turned out later he was both incompetent and corrupt.
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Elizabeth
Half-elven
Dec 8 2011, 6:57am
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...while eating breakfast (I lived in CA). First I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Then, I did. I went into the office and told everyone, and they were equally shocked. I don't think many of us got much work done that day, and I'm sure that was true all over. The only other day like that I remember was 9/11.
(This post was edited by Elizabeth on Dec 8 2011, 6:57am)
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Elizabeth
Half-elven
Dec 8 2011, 7:01am
Post #45 of 134
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My husband and kids went to Florida to watch the launch.
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I stayed home. The most wonderful vacation in years, with all of them gone for 2 weeks! The actual landing occurred while I was out with my dog, but I watched the moon walk live at home.
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zarabia
Tol Eressea
Dec 8 2011, 9:10am
Post #46 of 134
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I was fascinated by the election of John Paul II as Pope even though I'm not Catholic
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It's strange that this story has always stood out in my memory. I was fascinated by the pomp and ceremony, and waiting for the white smoke to announce the election of a new Pope, as well as everyone's excitement that he was Polish. The fact that John Paul II's election as Pope was one of the first news stories that spoke to me as a kid made it especially meaningful that I was in Poland when he died.
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Maiarmike
Grey Havens
Dec 8 2011, 12:27pm
Post #47 of 134
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Some of you guys have lived through some pretty important stuff!
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Some of them were probably horrifying though. Me? I tend to remember pop-culture events in history a lot better that were big news stories. Like the OJ Simpson chase and trial, I remember seeing on TV, when my parents would watch it. Of course 9/11 was the one I most remember clearly, and understood what was going on, but I was 13 at the time.
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Darkstone
Immortal
Dec 8 2011, 2:23pm
Post #48 of 134
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I also remember their parody "East Side Story" about Khrushchev ("Nikita! I just met a Red named Nikita!") that had something about him. I remember the government trying to pass the flight off as a NASA research flight. Of course Khrushchev had set a trap and let the US government deny everything before revealing that Powers was alive and had confessed. I remember being very upset that the US government had lied. Innocence lost at seven years old. I mean, we were supposed to be the good guys!
(This post was edited by Darkstone on Dec 8 2011, 2:23pm)
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Darkstone
Immortal
Dec 8 2011, 3:10pm
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...being very disappointed he didn't take the name Pope George Ringo. Always seemed rather unfair. But similarly, I remember being very impressed with the selection of Pope Paul VI in 1963. Of course back then there was a lot more solemnity without all the flashing color graphics or the need for constant analysis by talking heads. I think the world community was better served by the simplicity of "Show, Not Tell" over today's "Say Something, Anything To Avoid Dead Airtime". And dunno why, but I always felt some connection between the death of Pope John and that of President Kennedy a few months later. To a seven year old both seemed part of a larger tragedy, an unthinkable shaking of the foundations of the world that had seemed so permanent. But I still think there should be a Pope George Ringo.
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Annael
Immortal
Dec 8 2011, 5:58pm
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Friends and I are also holding out for a Pope Buster.
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Annael
Immortal
Dec 8 2011, 6:14pm
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*creaky voice* why, I remember . . .
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black-and-white TV with only 3-4 channels, rotary dial phones (we were on a party line at first but because my dad was a doctor, we got a private line which was a big deal), all cars were stick shift and didn't have seatbelts, no interstate highways so it took forever to drive anywhere, no Internet so you had to do all your school research in the library or using the encyclopedias everyone had, "snail mail" was your only option, drive-in theaters and bowling alleys and skating rinks everywhere, no "shopping malls," no one in the US played soccer, women could be nurses or teachers and that was about it, black people were "colored," and the Russians were going to bomb us out of existence any day now. Then I think about my folks (still kicking at 86 and 92) and all the things they've seen and lived through, including the Great Depression and World War II. What a lot of changes the 20th century brought! Wonder what I will see by the time I'm their age.
(This post was edited by Annael on Dec 8 2011, 6:15pm)
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Darkstone
Immortal
Dec 8 2011, 7:44pm
Post #55 of 134
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The one I remember was the Thresher.
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I remember hoping for days that the submarine would be found and men rescued.
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Annael
Immortal
Dec 8 2011, 10:24pm
Post #56 of 134
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zarabia
Tol Eressea
Dec 9 2011, 3:11am
Post #57 of 134
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Pope George Ringo:) Maybe one day that injustice will be remedied:)
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Even not so waaay back in nineteen-ought and seventy-eight, we didn't yet have the 24hr news monster to keep fed with constant nattering. Graphics didn't yet fill the screen so that there was no room left for the announcers, so there was still a solemn, respectful feel about the story. (BTW, I know his real name was Karol Wojtyla, and that John Paul II was the name he chose. In my previous post, it sounded like I thought the Cardinals voted for someone conveniently named JPII. Just clarifying) I was living in Poland without a TV at the time that John Paul II was on his deathbed so I didn't see all the talking heads and graphics, etc. but I remember walking around Krakow and seeing all the lights and cameras set up for reporters to give their updates and make the big announcement as soon as the news came down. I was spared all the constant analysis by talking heads, as you say, during that time, but saw behind the scenes in a way. However, I did watch the funeral with a Polish friend; the coverage was very tasteful and respectful.
(This post was edited by zarabia on Dec 9 2011, 3:17am)
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Donry
Tol Eressea
Dec 9 2011, 4:21am
Post #58 of 134
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empty-voted.....I think my first big news might have been Reagan getting shot???? I'm not sure, I may have to give this one more thought....
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Finding Frodo
Tol Eressea
Dec 9 2011, 6:42am
Post #59 of 134
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Does a presidential election count as a big news story?
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I was only about 6 years old when Jimmy Carter ran for president, but I remember I wanted him to win. I thought he was cuter than Gerald Ford. Over the next few years, I became more aware of world events. The energy crisis, the Iranian hostage crisis, two new popes in rapid succession (J.P. I and J.P. II about a month later), and especially the assassination attempts on Reagan and on Pope John Paul II are the big stories that stand out from that 6-11 year old age range you mentioned. I wonder what my kids will remember. My oldest was only 3 years old on Sept. 11, and I'm thankful she won't have memories of that.
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Aunt Dora Baggins
Immortal
Dec 9 2011, 12:21pm
Post #60 of 134
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Sure, if it made an impression on you.
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That might be another good question, asking people what's the first president they remember. It will be interesting to see what your kids will remember. Maybe some of the natural disasters of the past couple of years. I found it interesting that my son remembered the fall of the Berlin Wall, one of the few good things in my list. I think it made an impression on him because I was crying at the news, and he asked me what was wrong, and I said sometimes people cry when they're happy. In connection with the Iranian hostage crisis, we had a local hostage from the Lebanese hostage crisis, Tom Sutherland, and the day he came home was one of the best days I can remember. We had a parade, and the whole town turned out, and we gathered 10,000 strong in the gym and sang "Amazing Grace" while the bagpipes played, and he stood beaming and weeping and holding his wife's hand.
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Aunt Dora Baggins
Immortal
Dec 9 2011, 12:24pm
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My grandmother was born in 1905 and died in 2000, and I think what an amazing amount of change she lived through.
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greendragon
Sr. Staff
Dec 9 2011, 7:11pm
Post #62 of 134
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Does the shooting of John Lennon count?
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I think that's the first 'news' event I remember. I was 5 at the time. My Dad explained to me that it was the man who sang 'Imagine' - I knew the song but hadn't recognised the name on the news...
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Magpie
Immortal
Dec 9 2011, 7:26pm
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That's another event I remember clearly
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I had stayed the night at a girlfriend's house and John had been in the news lately and we got to talking about his life choices (staying home with Sean, etc.). I had always loved the Beatles, they were my first big crush. I had followed John for years and had a lot of admiration for him. I woke up the next morning to my girlfriend coming into the room saying, "John was shot and killed." I was stunned and fairly upset. I went into work and was in the back storeroom when a co-worker came in crying. She said an old friend she hadn't seen in years just walked in, handed her a rose and walked out again and my co-worker just lost it. They had both had crushes on John when they were younger. The rest of the staff were clueless about why we were both upset.
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Faenoriel
Tol Eressea
Dec 9 2011, 10:04pm
Post #65 of 134
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Yeah, I kind of new that already, but still. I mean old. As in OLD. This relevant, as the uprising I received taught me to remain silent in the company of adults.
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Darkstone
Immortal
Dec 9 2011, 10:08pm
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But who said I was an adult?
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Magpie
Immortal
Dec 9 2011, 10:32pm
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taught me to remain silent in the company of adults. I have lots of young friends. They keep me from falling asleep in my chair. :-) and I often explain my age in a variety of ways: Older than book Frodo when he left the Shire to destroy the Ring. Elder... not to be confused with Eldar. and... Older than dirt.
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silneldor
Half-elven
Dec 9 2011, 11:04pm
Post #69 of 134
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I love it when young whipper snappers say that...
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You wanna race? Boy, are you in trouble now
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Faenoriel
Tol Eressea
Dec 9 2011, 11:33pm
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I hope people didn't get insulted
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In my speech, "old" is almost always a compliment. I know our Western culture doesn't feel the same way.
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RosieLass
Valinor
Dec 9 2011, 11:39pm
Post #72 of 134
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I also remember Stevie Ray Vaughan's death.
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Although not a particularly early memory, since I was 25 at the time.
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Hengist
Forum Admin
/ Moderator
Dec 10 2011, 12:02am
Post #73 of 134
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"I counted them all out and I counted them all back"
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The Falklands War is probably the earliest big thing I remember. Watching the news everynight to find out what happened hearing about HMS Sheffield, Coventry and Antelope and the Sir Galahad and Sir Tristram. No rolling news back then but somehow the simple reports and the film that took a while to arrive back make it seem much more stark in my memory than more modern conflicts with the endless coverage.
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Aunt Dora Baggins
Immortal
Dec 10 2011, 12:07am
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I wasn't insulted. I thought it was funny. And I certainly don't want to race Silneldor. He's older than I am in years, but waaay more fit.
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Ethel Duath
Half-elven
Dec 10 2011, 12:14am
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Yep, me too, but a bit later in the day
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since we were on the way home from Missouri and had to stop on the road and watch it on a tiny scratchy black and white T.V up in the corner of a tiny motel office--one of the highlights of my life as I am a space/astronomy nut!
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Alcarcalime
Tol Eressea
Dec 10 2011, 1:16am
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it was nothing like Bill Clinton's invasion of Somalia when the cameras and news people were waiting for the marines as they came ashore! The wall to wall coverage does make it seem somehow less believable.
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Magpie
Immortal
Dec 10 2011, 1:26am
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When people want to be insulting...they usually pick pretty direct ways of expressing themselves. :-)
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Maiarmike
Grey Havens
Dec 10 2011, 1:47am
Post #78 of 134
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LOL! Old is just a state of mind. ;)
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I've realized this as I've gotten older. When my grandmother passed away last year of lung cancer at 67, I realized how young she really was. She was so healthy before she got sick, and when she did, she spent the remaining three years fighting off fatigue from treatment to spend as much time with her grandkids as she possibly could. She fought hard to make it to my college graduation, as sick as she was at the time, and I was oblivious to how sick she really was. That was the last significant amount of time she spent with me, so she said a few things that caught me off guard, about taking care of my siblings, and my mom. She passed away less than a month later. That whole experience basically changed the way I've thought about age and health ever since.
(This post was edited by Maiarmike on Dec 10 2011, 1:56am)
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Maiarmike
Grey Havens
Dec 10 2011, 1:49am
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I had a teacher in high school...
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...who was a bit of a mentor to me, and I remember him telling us that he didn't remember the moon landing at all, because he was in the middle of Vietnam at the time, and didn't hear about it until later. That was kind of an eye-opener for us young whipper-snappers at the time.
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Magpie
Immortal
Dec 10 2011, 3:17am
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that old people were kind of born old. I was smarter than that. Logically, I knew better. But, when I was young... all I saw was a person who was old. And I was never going to be old. I might travel through years of existence but I would never be like *that*. Growing older, I realized two things. Some things you have no choice about. And some things aren't that bad about being older. Each phase of our life gives us gifts and if we can glimpse the gifts of those other times through others without having to be in them ourselves then we just have a richer life. I'm sorry about your grandmother. She sounds like a good woman. on a related note... RT wrote a parody to a Rolling Stones song (on Main) and I was walking around the house last night singing, "What a drag it is getting old" and boy was I feeling it yesterday. My husband and I laughed at how old Mick is these days and how he once said, "Never trust anyone over 30". Ah, the young can be so cocky. ;^)
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silneldor
Half-elven
Dec 10 2011, 3:52am
Post #81 of 134
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It is just a bit of jocularity (quoting Father John Mulcahy). I am largely a kidder. And all is meant for good natured fun with people i find dear and highly respect. Carry on:).
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Maiarmike
Grey Havens
Dec 10 2011, 4:20am
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I always enjoy reading your insights Magpie, it's good to see you around here more often lately. Thank you for your kind words about my grandmother, 'Nana' as we called her. She was definitely a saint. Her kids and grandkids were what she lived for.
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willowing
Lorien
Dec 10 2011, 10:18am
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this historic event is not mentioned...
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The release of Nelson Mandela from Robben Island in South Africa to become president of the same country that jailed him. His Christian faith made an impression on me ever since. Since this event we have seen South Africa come back into the international fold after its long years of isolation from the rest of the world. This was a shining light as the twentieth century came to a close. I also remember the 1972 Olympic games where a terrorist group invaded the Israeli team's quarters and a number of athletes killed in the shootout and also the death of Elvis Presley in the same decade. Then there was the guy called Jim Jones who commanded his followers to kill themselves in Guyana. Anyway closer to home in 1967 our country of New Zealand decided it wanted to change its currency so the pounds, shillings and pence were done away with in favour of the dollars and cents. The same decade our own martime disaster when a ferry called the Wahine caught in a terrible storm struck a reef as it entered Wellington harbour and floundered and sank with loss of life.
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Rosie-with-the-ribbons
Forum Admin
/ Moderator
Dec 10 2011, 1:07pm
Post #84 of 134
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The thing I remember the most from "big news" was the sinking of the Herald of Free Enterprise just outside of Zeebrugge in Belgium. It was March 1987 and I was in my final year of elementary school (I was 12 years old). The first hours of the sinking I watched at home on the news. After some days or weeks, I can't remember anymore the exact time, they lifted the ship and we watched that at school with the entire class. The ship sunk just outside of the harbour of Zeebrugge and it was lying on it's side, so it was a really big visual picture, seeing that ship sideways. I had to google it, 193 died that night, just terrible.
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Annael
Immortal
Dec 10 2011, 3:33pm
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I've lived 60 years, yes, but I'm not old yet!
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People in my family live to their 90s and even 100s. Both my parents are still alive, my dad plays tennis three times a week still, we took him hiking for his 85th birthday. I have no plans to be "old" for at least another 20 years and maybe not then. I do a lot of hiking and it's very cheering to see people in their 80s out in the mountains. I plan to be one of them. If I decided to be "old" now I would get so bored so fast . . . However, if you mean "wise elder" I am fine with that!
(This post was edited by Annael on Dec 10 2011, 3:37pm)
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Faenoriel
Tol Eressea
Dec 10 2011, 3:46pm
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I feel myself a complete brat in this company.
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Aunt Dora Baggins
Immortal
Dec 10 2011, 5:10pm
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geographic proximity makes a big difference in how things affect us. My kids were touched by the Big Thompson flood, in which 145 people died, even though it happened before they were born, because their grandparents were survivors. And I remember being so horrified by the murder of Matthew Shepard, partly because he died in the same hospital where my children were born. I'm ashamed that I don't remember the shipwreck you refer to. Our media tends to ignore things that happen far away, I guess. And maybe I do too.
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Elizabeth
Half-elven
Dec 11 2011, 4:49am
Post #88 of 134
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As (apparently) the oldest person here,
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I represent that remark.
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zarabia
Tol Eressea
Dec 11 2011, 6:08am
Post #89 of 134
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Our obsession with youth is so silly
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But I remember when I was in Poland, a friend once called me Aged P (my real name starts with P). At first I was a bit hurt, thinking, "Middle-aged P, maybe, but not Aged P." But the tone in her voice as she saw me approach made it clear she was happy to see me and in no way intended to be hurtful. Plus, Aged P is a lovable character in Great Expectations, so I decided to take it as it was meant, a term of endearment. Now I'm actually fond of the name. I think we Americans are especially guilty of worrying about age; we could learn a lot from other cultures' attitudes about it.
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zarabia
Tol Eressea
Dec 11 2011, 6:34am
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You must be descended from Bullroarer Took:)
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I love that your dad is still hiking and playing tennis at 85! Age really is just a number. Just ask the 83 year old man who performed my neurosurgery at the suggestion of my 30-something doctor.
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Annael
Immortal
Dec 11 2011, 9:13pm
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it's practically the Unitarian Doxology!
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Annael
Immortal
Dec 11 2011, 9:18pm
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quit eating at 104, out of boredom and the fear that nothing else was going to kill her. That did! The really good news is we keep ze little grey cells. My mom plays duplicate bridge several times a week and reports with glee that she always wins. (She does, however, tell us the same stories over and over - the short-term memory's gone a bit wonky.)
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ByThorinsBeard
Rohan
Dec 11 2011, 10:52pm
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I was about 6 at the time. Didn't have a clue what was going on but that's the first for me.
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dernwyn
Forum Admin
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Dec 12 2011, 12:53am
Post #95 of 134
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The children sang his "Happy Christmas"
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this morning, at our church's annual Christmas Brunch (pot-luck style, and the kids perform individually or in groups while we're eating). He is so greatly missed...
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dernwyn
Forum Admin
/ Moderator
Dec 12 2011, 12:56am
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until the '60s started picking up steam, and many of us were dragged kicking and screaming into reality...amazing how many are still in denial.
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greendragon
Sr. Staff
Dec 12 2011, 6:44am
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Though I only know it from repeat showings. I was old enough to be aware of the Falklands War but we were living overseas at the time so I didn't see the news. But after John Lennon's death, that's probably the next big event I remember. And the Royal Wedding.
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greendragon
Sr. Staff
Dec 12 2011, 6:48am
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Even before I really knew that it was by a Beatle! You know, when I was little I thought that Reagan and Thatcher were the permanent leaders of the US and the UK... That was just the world view I got from the news when I was about four...!
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FantasyFan
Rohan
Dec 12 2011, 5:13pm
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I was five at the time, and don't remember much about it except we were allowed to watch the news on TV, which was not normally done at my house. I remember more that my parents were upset than anything else. I have much clearer memories of the King assassination in 1968. My mom was crying when I got home from school, and she said, "They have killed a very good man."
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ElanorTX
Tol Eressea
Dec 14 2011, 11:48am
Post #101 of 134
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Sputnik; Kennedy v. Nixon 1960 campaign; Berlin wall; Cuban missile crisis
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age 5 - 9 Supposedly I was precocious, and definitely my parents were active citizens
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One Ringer
Tol Eressea
Dec 14 2011, 3:03pm
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and for me it's the first headline/catastrophe I remember hearing about (in real time anyhow). I think you're right about those years being when you starting picking up on certain things. I also find it's when your memory starts to pick up, for me atleast.
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Marillė by the Sea
Rivendell
Dec 14 2011, 10:35pm
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I picked 9/11, but I remember Princess Diana, even though I was super young then. My dad adored her, so he was terribly sad. I didn't really understand the importance of it since I thought people die in car accidents everyday, so what made her so important? I guess it never hit me that she's actually a PRINCESS. Plus the fact that she wasn't wearing a seatbelt made me less sympathetic? What a heartless child I was, lol! But I definitely remember 9/11 and where I was. I was in the car with my mom driving me to school and she was listening to the Chinese radio, and she told me how two planes flew into a tower. I didn't really understand the importance (running trend for me, apparently -_-) because I didn't realize it was a terrorist attack and thought it was another plane accident. I guess I was too innocent to even conceive the notion that somebody would kill 2000 people deliberately. I went to school and everybody was talking about it. We spent most of our time in class watching the news. I went home and watched the news some more that evening, and it was the first time I comprehended the situation. I was so angry I wanted to hurt the people that did this.
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Marillė by the Sea
Rivendell
Dec 14 2011, 10:37pm
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I thought that Clinton would reign forever. I didn't know that only applied to kings. So I was very confused when Bush and Gore were running, and a bit bummed since I liked Clinton, he was the only president I've ever known, and the 90s was awesome!
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Annael
Immortal
Dec 15 2011, 3:41pm
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born and raised in the briar patch! //
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Annael
Immortal
Dec 15 2011, 3:49pm
Post #106 of 134
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The Cuban missile crisis . . .
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we were so sure the Soviets were going to bomb us any day as it was, and that just seemed like the beginning of the end. My uncle was serving at the time and would have been sent in had we invaded. I was amazed when I saw the movie "Thirteen Days" how much I remembered. I recognized almost every character before they were named. We must have been glued to the TV all through that.
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diedye
Grey Havens
Dec 15 2011, 7:11pm
Post #107 of 134
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John Lennon's assassination...
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... it made quite an impact on me because I grew up with Beatles music and he was my favorite Beatle.
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Arandiel
Grey Havens
Dec 15 2011, 7:26pm
Post #108 of 134
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Carter's election is the first news story I remember, too, vividly - I was sitting in our kitchen watching the election returns on our little TV.
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HappyHobbitess
Rohan
Dec 20 2011, 7:20pm
Post #109 of 134
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The fall of the Berlin Wall was the first big thing I really remember remembering! I was interested in Germany and the German language from a young age, so I was curious about it. I remember watching the news with my family, and them trying to explain to me why it was so significant. I also remember the 1988 presidential election. I mostly remember it because my parents were conservative, and my friend's family was liberal, so we tried to talk politics. Given that we were first graders, the discussion was probably hysterical from an adult perspective. The one thing I remember saying was something I'd heard one of my siblings say, about how Dukakis was a "balloon face." I'm sure I thought this was a crushing comeback. This friend and I also used to argue about baseball, and our baseball arguments probably had just as much substance.
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GAndyalf
Valinor
Dec 23 2011, 10:01pm
Post #110 of 134
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Depends upon what is 'news'...
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The first "news" item I was aware of was likely the ongoing news of the Viet Nam conflict over the course of several years and all of my childhood until I was a teen. The first 'news' that made a lifetime impact on me was Neil Armstrong of Wapakoneta, OH setting foot on the moon. I was my son's age now when that happened in July of 1969 (8) and I was allowed to stay up well past my bedtime to see it. The first 'news' of a different and personal kind was my watching the original series Star Trek during it's original run. Despite my young age (I was 5 in 1966), it struck me much more than anything else because it seemed a much more believable future than ridiculous notions that sometimes got on the air.
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GAndyalf
Valinor
Dec 23 2011, 10:15pm
Post #111 of 134
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http://www.funtrivia.com/askft/Question100920.html Waxing, between crescent and half-moon. I was far too young to go outside to look but I did imagine it.
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GAndyalf
Valinor
Dec 23 2011, 10:24pm
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I was stationed in England and was just getting ready to go to work when my close friend Mike came to my room and when I answered told me simply, "Challenger's exploded!" I didn't have a lot of time before work but I dashed to the nearest television where it was being replayed over and over. Christa McAuliffe was the teacher's name - here in Colorado Springs there's an elementary school named for her.
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GAndyalf
Valinor
Dec 23 2011, 10:50pm
Post #113 of 134
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I know what you mean about a local marine accident...
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I never heard of the MS Estonia until reading your post. But growing up on the shore of the 10th largest freshwater body in the world (Lake Erie) and near to 5 of the 14 largest (the Great Lakes) I fully appreciate your love/respect of the ocean because in many ways the Great Lakes behave as an ocean does. November 10th of 1975 a similar accident to what you describe when on Lake Superior the largest ship ever to be lost on the Great Lakes went down, spawning a popular song by Canadian folk singer Gordon Lightfoot. All 29 men lost their lives - it was an iron ore freighter. About a third of the crew, including the captain of the ship were from my home state of Ohio. Here's the YouTube video tribute with the Gordon Lightfoot song, "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" and it also includes some great footage, some of it of the "Mighty Fitz" and some of the wreck itself at the bottom of the lake, and even an exerpt of the newscast from the night it was lost. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgI8bta-7aw
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GAndyalf
Valinor
Dec 23 2011, 10:59pm
Post #114 of 134
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Okay, READ before posting! LIP
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"The wind and the wires made a tattle-tale sound as the waves broke over the railin'...." ---Gordon Lightfoot, "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald"
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GAndyalf
Valinor
Dec 23 2011, 11:04pm
Post #115 of 134
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It was just before Watergate...
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and I was very grief-stricken as it was the first Olympiad I'd ever watched. It was also the year that for the first time in decades American Frank Shorter won the marathon and swimmer Mark Spitz set a then-record with 7 gold medals. I was smitten with 14 year old Olga Korbut who wowed the Olympiad with her fearless performances leading the Russian team to another gold and a crowning Olympiad for Ludmila Tourischeva, their "old maid" captain at age 19! Four years before Nadia Comaneci of Romania scored the first-ever Olypmic "10" in competition.
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GAndyalf
Valinor
Dec 23 2011, 11:25pm
Post #116 of 134
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I thought about this when my grandmother passed away last July...
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She was born in 1911 and as I thought about it, there were more dramatic changes to the way humans lived their lives in her lifetime than in ALL of human history before her COMBINED! Electricity in homes was not ubiquitous yet, automobiles were for the few still, WW I had not happened yet, telephones were not common. There were no professional sports apart from perhaps boxing. No television. Radio not yet taken hold. The abacus was the most advanced computer. Nuclear energy wasn't even theoretical, there were only 46 United States. J.R.R. Tolkien was a freshman at Oxford. The list is far more extensive, but your point is well-taken.
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GAndyalf
Valinor
Dec 23 2011, 11:36pm
Post #118 of 134
(1864 views)
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You talked about being quiet amongst us. BIG no-no among this gaggle of codgers!
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GAndyalf
Valinor
Dec 23 2011, 11:40pm
Post #119 of 134
(1901 views)
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Still singin' "Hope I die before I get old!"
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GAndyalf
Valinor
Dec 23 2011, 11:43pm
Post #120 of 134
(1948 views)
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Don't you mean Gerontius, the Old Took? I should think brash young ruffians like Bandobaras wouldn't live long because of the adventures that got them into battles! Then again, there are two kinds of old warrior - dead or deadly!
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Aunt Dora Baggins
Immortal
Dec 23 2011, 11:44pm
Post #121 of 134
(1951 views)
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It is whatever you define it to be.
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I was thinking of that too, how the Vietnam War was on the TV every night in gruesome detail throughout my childhood. It terrified me to think my brother might be drafted, but the war ended before he came of age.
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GAndyalf
Valinor
Dec 23 2011, 11:50pm
Post #122 of 134
(2582 views)
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All media does that and for good reason. There would be far too much 'news' to cover if every event around the globe got equal coverage. The further it is from the people directly affected, the less newsworthy it becomes.
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GAndyalf
Valinor
Dec 23 2011, 11:53pm
Post #123 of 134
(1912 views)
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Nice to see the Berlin Wall RAISED as opposed to falling make the list...
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Though it was the year I was born (which gave me particular satisfaction to have outlived it), it was a very significant event.
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GAndyalf
Valinor
Dec 23 2011, 11:56pm
Post #124 of 134
(1856 views)
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I felt the same way about her not wearing a seatbelt and I'm a LOT older//
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GAndyalf
Valinor
Dec 23 2011, 11:58pm
Post #125 of 134
(1910 views)
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I asked my Mum if I would be drafted...
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It ended four years before I would've been eligible - so what do I do but spend 32 years of my adult life in and out of the military!
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GAndyalf
Valinor
Dec 24 2011, 12:16am
Post #127 of 134
(1879 views)
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Only when one faces a fear may it be defeated...
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The fear will only grow to incredible proportion if one keeps one's back to it.
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Aunt Dora Baggins
Immortal
Dec 24 2011, 1:43am
Post #128 of 134
(1947 views)
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I was crying as I was watching the news, and I explained to him that sometimes people cry because they're really happy, and that was new information to him (he must have been eight years old). All through my childhood I remember reading stories of people dying trying to cross the wall, and every now and then someone would succeed.
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zarabia
Tol Eressea
Dec 24 2011, 7:36am
Post #129 of 134
(1921 views)
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Congratulations, you passed my little test to see if anyone would notice...you buying that???:P
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Oops! You're right. I guess I always think Bullroarer because I've always liked that name. Thanks for the correction.
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GAndyalf
Valinor
Dec 24 2011, 9:07am
Post #130 of 134
(1995 views)
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I'll buy whatever you sell! Even I'M still young compared to old Gerontius (as is everyone who posts on this board!) I agree that Bandobaras' nickname IS quite catchy. But I was always amused at Tolkien that for Old Took's given name that he chose the Greek word for "old man" (Gerontius). Tolkien was the one who got me started in my own love of words.
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Lothlorian
Lorien
Dec 26 2011, 10:29pm
Post #131 of 134
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The Watergate hearings interrupted
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with the late afternoon reruns of Star Trek. That really steamed my rice!
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Aunt Dora Baggins
Immortal
Dec 27 2011, 10:02am
Post #132 of 134
(1876 views)
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The JFK funeral interrupted Captain Kangaroo.
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I know that sounds incredibly insensitive, but I was seven and that's what I remember.
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grammaboodawg
Immortal
Dec 30 2011, 9:09pm
Post #133 of 134
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I was 11 when JFK was assassinated.
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I was sitting on the floor of my Aunt's house when the news came on TV. I can tell you what the carpet felt/looked like, the room, the daylight, the smell... my Aunt's scream. It's all blazed into my memory. I know at the time it rocked my world. School, parent, the news... it still hits me when I think about it. Then, to my horror as I type it now, 7 years later my eldest daughter was born on November 22.
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Aunt Dora Baggins
Immortal
Dec 30 2011, 10:08pm
Post #134 of 134
(1893 views)
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A few years ago we found a time capsule in our house
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that was left there in January of 1964. The little boy who wrote the enclosed letter talked about the JFK assassination, and Uncle Baggins got choked up when he read it out loud.
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